Russian coach suspended for two years for insulting Cuban player. The Russian Volleyball Federation reported on Monday that the coach of Kaliningrad’s Lokomotiv team, Andrei Voronkov, was suspended for two years for an offensive expression about Cuban player Ailama Montalvo, from Yekaterinburg’s Uralochka-NTMK. “The suspension only applies to the events of the Russian Volleyball Federation, but we cannot prohibit him from being a coach,” said the secretary general of that body, Alexander Yariomenko, who clarified that Voronkov cannot take athletes to the field. He assured that the decision was unanimous and explained that the sanctioned person can appeal the decision before the arbitration of the Federation within 10 days. On May 12, during a time-out in a decisive game of the Russian championship final series against Uralochka, Voronkov, referring to a female volleyball player on his team, said: “Why are you blocking that monkey again? The offense was captured by cameras and the video became viral on social networks very quickly, accompanied by strong comments rejecting the offense.
